A Love Worth Fighting For
by HelloMars
Summary: When an old friend arrives it sends Sheldon in a new frenzy. Suddenly the great Sheldon Cooper cannot think, operate or speak when she is around. What about this old friend has Sheldon acting like so differently? Will the change be for the better? A Sheldon/OC story. M for later chapters.
1. Act One

**Act One**

**Sheldon's Old Friend Shirley Tempo!**

The gang was all at Leonard and Sheldon's place for pizza, and a Lord of the Rings movie-fest which would prepare them for the upcoming Hobbit movie. Leonard and Penny in their normal seat, the big chair, while Bernadette, her newly husband Howard and Raj all sat on the couch. Sheldon took the unusual choice of sitting in his computer chair skyping with Amy on his laptop. Both Penny and Bernaette were trying their hardest not to fall asleep while the boys were quoting along with the entire series.

Penny's phone rings. The song was an odd remix of Disturbia by Rihanna and Home by Three Days grace. Noticing the interesting song Bernadette's eye peered up at Penny. "That's a groovy song, what is it?" Bernadette inquired.

"Oh, you like it? It's this new DJ mash-up of Disturbia and Home, it's called Disturbed Home." Penny said answering her text.

"Oh, who's the DJ?" inquired Bernadette again.

"Her name is…"

"Shh!" the boys demanded.

"Okay, jeez it's just some dwarves with a ring." Penny stated earning cold, questioning stares from her nerd boyfriend and his nerd friends.

Slowly Sheldon turns halfway around to Penny and gives his own disappointing gaze. Shaking his head he questions his roommate, "Seriously, Leonard what do you see in her? Obviously her intellect is not high on the list."

"If you could see what happens in my room, you would understand my point of view." Leonard grew a lustfully smile across his face. Penny smacked his chest playfully and smiled taking his statement as a compliment.

"From what I hear during the late evenings, I would have to disagree." Sheldon said before returning to his own so-called 'girlfriend'.

It was not long until there was a knock on the door. The boys were so into Lord of the Rings they ignored the sound, Sheldon was in too deep of a conversation with Amy to care, and Penny and Bernadette were drifting in and out of sleep to even hear it. Another knock, Sheldon turned to the group and said, "Well the door is not going to answer itself."

"Why don't you get it?" questioned Leonard.

Taking a deep breathed Sheldon was about to quote the infamous 'Roommate Agreement', but Leonard quickly stood up and headed for the door muttering, "Yeah, yeah I know somewhere in the agreement it says I have to get the door, apparently…"

Opening the door Leonard was looking at the back of a short woman. The woman had giant violet headphones over her ears and wavy brown pixie-cut hair. She wore a sleeveless white shirt with elbow black and white fingerless gloves, a pair of loose black jeans with white studded belts and two white shoulder straps that were hanging down her legs. Turning around she had graying blue eyes and two long locks of hair hanging from each side.

Stunned by the beautiful woman, and by her unique appearance, Leonard took a moment to take it in then asked, "Can I help you?"

The woman took off her headphones and smiled with a nervous twitch, "Hello, um, is Sheldon here?"

"Who?" Leonard questioned with a puzzled expression.

"Um…Sheldon? Is there a Sheldon Cooper living here," she asked digging in her pocket she pulled out a piece of paper and looked at it, "I'm sorry sometimes I can barely read my own handwriting. Sad, huh?"

"Well, I mean there is a Sheldon here, but I doubt it's the one you're thinking of." Leonard looked back at his roommate then back at her.

The woman rubbed the back of her head and spoke, "Um, I do believe he's a doctor or something now. Um, he's really tall, lanky and has like an IQ of 180 or something."

"187 actually," Sheldon corrected. Turning around Leonard stepped aside, and quickly he stood up with a blank expression upon his long face, "Shirley…?"

Rubbing her left arm nervously Shirley smiled softly, "Hey there Shelly."

Suddenly Sheldon buckled over making an odd sound before hurrying to the bathroom forgetting about Amy who was still on Skype. Gaining everyone attention the gang all stood to their feet and gathered around Shirley.

"Hello? What's going on?" Amy called from the computer, unable to seeing who or why everyone was at the door.

Leonard rubbed his forehead, "Ah, who are you exactly?"

"My name is Shirley Stonehill," answered Shirley. Standing on her tippy-toes she tried looking where Sheldon went.

"How do you know Sheldon? I mean you look normal enough." Penny stated amazed that such a woman knew even who Sheldon was.

Shirley seemed more worried about Sheldon she had to double take Penny's question. Back flat on her feet she said, "We, we were childhood friends."

Everyone was so stunned that they all thought Shirley was mistaken. Surely she meant Missy's, Sheldon's twin sister, but if not why would Sheldon not tell anyone about her. Was she one of Sheldon's many childhood bullies? Was she a crazy childhood stalker?

"Um, did you say you were friends?" Leonard repeated with a joint questionable expression from everyone.

"Yeah I did," Shirley reached in her wallet and pulled out a gold card then extended it to Leonard, "look I need to be across town in like thirty minutes, so if you could give this to him and ask him to meet me that would be great"

"The Lone Lounge?" Leonard read the card. Quickly Penny's eyes widen as she snatched the card from her boyfriend's grip.

"Yeah, that's where I work. I'm heading over there now," Shirley put her wallet back into her back pocket, "that's a gold member pass, it can get anyone in on the list or not."

"Oh my God it's like the hardest club to get into," Penny exclaimed in amazement, "what do you do there?"

"I'm the new DJ," Shirley stated, "My stage name is Shirley Tempo…"

"Oh my God," Penny exclaimed again, louder this time, "I have like every mash-up you ever did! You're amazing!"

"Thanks, it's a gift." Shirley shrugged with a grin.

"So, er, this card says infinite pluses. W-what does that mean exactly?" Penny stuttered with excitement.

"It means just that, anyone with this card can get any number of people in," Shirley placed on her headphones and continued, "look even if Sheldon doesn't come, you all should. I start roughly around nine or so." Beginning to turn around she spun back around with desperate eyes, "But, if it's not too much trouble could you try to make Sheldon come. I would really love to see him again."

"Yeah, I'll try…" Leonard began, but was interrupted by Penny.

"Yes, he'll be there I promise!" the excited blonde promised.

With a slight smirk Shirley turned around, flipped her skateboard up and jogged down the stairs before heading on her way.

Leonard closed the door and looked at his girlfriend with a disbelief stare. "You promise? And how exactly do you plan on getting Sheldon Cooper into a club?"

"I don't care if we have to drug him or tie him up, he's going," Penny said with a disturbed voice, "Leonard, don't you get it? The Lone Lounge is the hot spot! Everyone who's anyone goes there!" She took hold of the nerd's narrow shoulders and spoke even louder, "If I went through I can get noticed, I can get an actual acting job! Leonard, I won't be just another failed actress waitressing in the cheesecake factory!"

Quickly grabbing Bernadette's hand Penny rushed them towards the door, yelling to Leonard, "We have to get ready, Leonard handle Sheldon!"

As the girls left frustrated Leonard threw up his hands in a fit, "And of course I always get stuck with the hard part."

"I'll take care of Amy," Howard said as he simply closed Sheldon's laptop.

"Ooo, I'm going to get wasted in the best club in town," Raj smiled awkwardly, "Oh, maybe I'll even hook up with an actress…oh wouldn't it be great if I hooked up with Justin Bieber?"

Howard gave his friend a questionable stare, "You do realize Justin Bieber is a dude, right?"

"Really," Raj asked confusedly, "he has really soft looking skin. I thought it was a lesbian trying to go butch like the lady who dated Lindsey Lohan."

"No, just no Raj." Howard shook his head.

Meanwhile Leonard had made his way to the bathroom door and knocked on it. Listening closely he could hear the shower running. He knocked again followed by a question, "Sheldon, are you taking a shower?"

"It just won't go down," Sheldon screamed painfully from inside, "why isn't the cold water cold enough?"

"Sheldon?" Leonard called worriedly. After another painfully scream coming from inside, Leonard hurried inside, "Sheldon, why exactly are you taking a cold shower if you can't handle the cold?"

The shower stopped. A long, lanky arm reached for a towel while a sigh of relief was expressed happily. Pushing the shower curtain to the side Sheldon was standing with a half-smile and a towel around his waist.

"It went down." Sheldon sighed.

"What did," Leonard questioned before realizing the answer, "Oh my God Sheldon!"

"Leonard, why are you in here?" Sheldon asked completely ignoring the pervious incident.

"You mean besides saving you from turning into a human popsicle," mocked Leonard, "that girl, Shirley, well she asked us to go the Lone Lounge."

"You mean Shirley Stonehill?" Sheldon asked. Leonard nodded. Quickly Sheldon began pacing back and forth, "Oh no! No, no, no. What can I wear? How should I act? What if I mess up?"

Leonard never seen his roommate act so, well human. Watching Sheldon pace back and forth he was forced to ask, "Who exactly is she?"

Sheldon stopped and looked at him, "She's Shirley Stonehill." He walked out and into his room leaving his short friend in a confused daze.

Arriving at the Lone Lounge 10:32pm Penny lead the gang to the front of the couple blocks line. Everyone they passed sighed pissed off watching them move up ahead which gave Penny a wider smile. At the door was a tall, wide, dark skinned man who stopped them and asked, "Names?"

"We're not on the list…" Penny began.

"Not on the list, not going in. Back of the line," he stated before being handed the gold card, "how many?"

"One, two, three" Penny counted down the gang, "six."

"Alright go on inside." he said lifting the velvet rope. They hurried through.

Once inside there were flashing white, red, violet, yellow lights coming from both the high ceiling and flashing floor. The booths were leather with marble table while the bar seemed to be a mile long with every kind of mixer, hard liquor, and beer that you could want. The waitresses were dressed in skimpy clothing, the male bartenders were topless with thick, beautiful muscles and everyone inside seemed to be extremely beautiful or perhaps it was just the flashing lights and fog like atmosphere that made everyone seem more ravishing than what they really were. And off in the far distance was Shirley up on a platform swaying as she mixes, scratching and free-styling the club's music.

Immediately Penny felt right at home, Bernadette was a little uncomfortable but still fine while the boys were totally out of place. Penny and Bernadette grabbed a glass of champagne from the walking by waitress then headed for the front of the club with their men latching on their arms. Sheldon closely followed them, sharply dressed in the black tuxedo Penny had picked out for him from before. Raj, on the other hand, stayed back and ordered a drink from the bar.

Up by the stage where Shirley was performing the crowd became thick and hard to navigate through. Soon Penny gave up and began dancing with her boy with her glass held to the ceiling. But Sheldon managed to break through the crowd, and standing in front of the stage he gazed up at the girl he once knew to the tee. A childhood friend, a childhood crush, a childhood love?

Getting bumped into Sheldon broke his gaze, but upon looking back up Shirley was already gone. He quickly looked around trying to locate her, but suddenly he was ambushed from behind. A soft silk cloth wrapped around his dull blue eyes, then his hand was taken as he was led somewhere. Pushing pass dancing fools, walking away the music was fading the further they went. Stepping into a back room where the ceiling and curved walls were mirrors, and in the center was a circle bed with silk sheets and many pillows.

With the sound of the door locking behind him, Sheldon soon felt a warm embrace. The sweet, almost intoxicating scent rushing into his nose was that of only one person. He removed the cloth seeing Shirley holding him tightly, and it was not long until he wrapped his arms around, closed his eyes and locked her into one of his rare embraces.


	2. Act Two

**A/N Hello everyone! People ask me "What's my inspiration for writing?" My answer is MUSIC! Although I have no talent in anything musical, I just love it and it inspires every moment of every scene. Well Act Two was inspired by the song 'Careless Whispers' by Seether. Enjoy~**

**Act Two**

**Sheldon plus Prom equals a Statement?**

The embrace last only a few moments, a few sweet moments of silence. In fact the only sound was the thump of their beating heartbeats. Sheldon savored these moments before Shirley released him. He still kept his hold.

"Sheldon," Shirley called up to the tall nerd, "Sheldon, it's getting a little hard to breath down here."

Opening his dull blue orbs he tighten his grip around her slightly more, "I just want to know you're real and not just another hallucination. You know I have been working with some new chemicals that may have some…"

"Sheldon," Shirley interrupted him, "I can assure I am me in the flesh and blood."

With a quick squeeze Sheldon quickly let go, then looking around he noticed all the mirrors and when his eyes cast upon the silk bed he gave a soft shriek along with a low jump. He quickly looked by at the smiling brunette who sat down on the bed.

"W-what are we doing here?" he stuttered feeling an uneasy sensation growing inside his pants he quickly sat and crossed his legs.

Shirley giggled at him childishly, "Shelly, I'm not going to do anything, but talk. The back rooms are the other quiet places in the club. Relax."

She placed her hand upon his, and even though he felt a teenage excitement building inside her touch was somehow calming. They sat there, silently, motionlessly, shyly for a good while. They both acted as if they were lost for words, and for Sheldon losing his ability to speak was a blessing to some people. But for this moment it was not a blessing. Although the silence was not awkward nor uncomfortable, but instead it was simply nice. To even be in the same room with one another again was a gift of itself, because of how long they waited to see each other again.

But soon they both looked at the other and cracked their lips to speak at the same time. Then they stopped and waited for the other to speak, but again they spoke the same time. Sheldon and Shirley chuckled at their fail attempts.

"I'm sorry," sighed Shirley lowering her head to stare at the floor, "I'm sorry about everything. I'm sorry what I did to you, I'm sorry it took me so long to apologize, I'm sorry I'm such a screw-up as a person," she peered up at him and squeezed his hand, "and as a friend."

Sheldon's eyes grew wide with sorrow, "Shirley…"

Quickly stood up, and began to pace back and forth uttering under her breath, "It's just, you don't know how it was living in that damn house! The fighting, the yelling…," she turned to her friend with tearful eyes, "the nights were the worse. I rarely sleep because of the reoccurring nightmares." Turning to the corner where her weeping eyes blankly stared back at her Shirley punched her reflection, shattering the glass with shards piercing through the spaces between her tighten knuckles.

Placing her forearm against the broken glass and pressing her head against the fold of her arm she continued, "If, if I would have known you would be seriously hurt by my actions that not I would never have asked you." She turned to him, and in front of Sheldon she dropped to her knees placing her hands upon his knees, "Sheldon, I had loved you before that night and even more after. Can you ever forgive me?"

Sheldon did not know how to respond. He always felt something more for this lone woman than any other. It's been so long since the day she spoke of the sting of the day was numbed over the many years. And yet, the sting came back like a dagger through his beating heart.

"Shelly, give me your phone," Shirley said as he did as requested, "I'm going to give you my number. Let's have lunch tomorrow. Just you and I. So we can talk some more."

Sheldon nodded his head in agreement. Looking up at her dear old friend she placed the phone in his hand and stood up, even standing while he sat Shirley was only taller by a couple of inches. But she leaned down with a smile and kissed his cheek tenderly.

Back up toward the door, Shirley had a cheerful smile as she gazed over at Sheldon, "I got to clean up a bit, sorry about the mess Shelly. I'll see you later." With a wink she left with her sweet perfume still lingering in the room.

The next morning Leonard and Penny lied out in the living room sleeping. This occurred because early that morning they along with Sheldon came back, and the couple was too drunk to make their way to Leonard's room so they collapsed outside in the living room. Leonard did not even make it to the couch instead he laid by the front door.

The apartment phone rings waking Leonard from his drunken coma. It rings again causing him to struggle to his feet and over to the kitchen. There it rings the third time, this time Leonard pressed the speaker button and answers with a sleepy, "Hello?"

"Well good morning to ya Leonard," greeted the oddly loud Texan mother, "can you put my son on?"

"Um…I think he's taking a shower. Can I have him call you back?" suggested Leonard.

"No, that's all right darling. I'll just wait."

"Great…" uttered Leonard annoyed.

Noticing the booze-bound words, Mary could tell her son's roommate was hung over. "Honey, how long was you drinking till."

Surprised Leonard asked, "How did you know?"

"George would drink every second of every day if he could," Mary explained, "I know what a hangover sounds like. What exactly were ya'll doing?"

Rubbing his eyes Leonard tried to remember and slowly some memories came back, memories from before the club. Pouring himself a glass of Orange Juice he answered, "Um…Sheldon's friend Shirley invited us to the Lone Lounge."

"Shirley? You mean Shirley Stonehill?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Oh my sweet Jesus! Little old Shirley Temple," Mary exclaimed excitedly, "well that's what the town called her 'cause she looked like that little actress Shirley Temple. Yes, she had the same curly blonde hair. Good Lord how is she? I haven't seen her since she took Sheldon to her senior prom."

Leonard spat out his Orange Juice in disbelief while Penny heard the words Sheldon and prom, and quickly woke from her own drunken coma.

"I'm sorry did you say Sheldon went to prom?" asked Leonard.

"Yes, I did," Mary answered, "now we all know my boy is a little on the strange side, but Shirley seem to have the effect of keeping him somewhat normal. I remember she called him up and asked him to her senior prom. He dropped everything and hurried back home to take her. But the night did not turn out so well, in fact in our little town what happened there was the one of the biggest events that ever happened."

"What happened?" asked Leonard now fully awake and intrigued.

"It's a long story dear."

"Well Sheldon is in the shower." Leonard said.

"Then I guess we have time for the full version," Mary begun revealing the story of Sheldon's prom night.

_**Flashback**_

_ It was finally the day Sheldon had been waiting for since his crush Shirley had asked him a month and a half ago. His mother, Mary, was fixing his black bow-tie until it was perfectly straight. His grandma put his powder blue jacket on the young man, and dusted it off to make it look almost brand new. Mary turned her son to the face the full mirror, and as they both looked at him they both could not believe this day was finally here._

_ "Moon-pie you look so handsome." Sheldon's grandma cheered._

_ "Thank you Mema," Sheldon smiled turning to his grandma, "I'm so excited!"_

_ Mary came around to his front of do some finishing touches, "I still can't believe she asked ya. You already graduated college and then some. She probably could have asked any boy in her class."_

_ "Hush up Mary," snapped Grandma, "obviously she picked the only one who's worth her time. Isn't that right?" Grandma than proceeded to kiss his nose leaving a kiss covered lipstick on her grandson's pointed nose. _

_ "Mema, what if Shirley walks in?" Sheldon asked worriedly while Mary wiped the lipstick from his nose._

_ As he was being tended too, Shirley walked to his front door. She was wearing a matching powder blue dress with a darker blue sash around her waist. Her hair was long, curled and golden blonde. She wore long dark blue gloves, a pearl necklace and blue heels. Her smiling face caught Sheldon's stare and kept his attention. Soon both Grandma and Mary looked over at the door to see beautiful Shirley._

_ "Well don't just stand there, come on in darling," Mary said as the young girl came inside and stopped at the threshold, "well don't you look like Cinderella?"_

_ "Thanks Mrs. Cooper," Shirley smiled at her date, "hi Shelly."_

_ Sheldon walked over awkwardly, "Y-you have nice ankles." Referring to the small gap between the bottom of her lace dress and feet in which her ankles were shown._

_ She laughed softly, "Thank you."_

_ "Oh, let me get a picture of you too," Mary begged pushing her tall son next to his short date and snapped a picture, "there we go! Now, no sex, drugs or alcohol. Have a great time kiddos!"_

_ The night was becoming late and normally Sheldon would be tired by this hour, but with Shirley in his arms he was wide awake. They danced, they laughed, they were having a fun-full time and it was all because of her. But as the evening grew late the announcement of prom King and Queen was about to be held._

_ The King was already announced, but with only moments of hoping of every girl in the place was the announcement of who would be the Queen. And then it came, "Shirley Stonehill."_

_ Shirley seemed unaffected by this, her expression changed, but not happy or excited, but it was a bitter expression. She slowly walked up on stage and received her crown. But it was there she tapped the microphone to make an announcement of her own._

_ "Hello everybody," she started out, "I know some of you are surprised by this, and all of you have been hearing rumors about me. But before I confess my soul, I just want to say one thing." She took off the crown and stared deep into the crowd of her white, christen classmates, "You all have two things in common with this crown. They first this stupid thing and you all are a bunch of plastics, and the second," she broke the crown in pieces and threw it at the crowd, "you are both weak. Too weak to come out of your parents shadows, too weak to fight what's worth fighting for. Equality. I am my own woman, with my own values and ideas. I'm nothing like you, and I'm everything like my mother." She stripped her arms from the gloves revealing needle marks from drug abuse._

_ The crowd gasped at her honesty, the Principal tried to nudge her off, but she shoved him away. Tears of anger and frustration ran down her oddly round cheeks._

_ Shirley looked deeper in the back, right at her Grandfather, and she bit out, "I rather be an honest junkie like my mother than a fucking Nazi just like that man over! Do you hear me?" Pulling off her wing she revealed her freshly shaven head before the Principal quickly snatched her and dragged her off stage, "Am I still your little girl now? Huh, Howard?"_

_ Somehow escaping the Principal's grip she ran to Sheldon with a sad smile, "I had a wonderful night, Shelly." She kissed his cheek before being taken hold again, and dragged out of the room._

_End of Flashback_

"And a few days later she ran away," Mary ended her story, "but now I suppose she's back. I wondering if Howard knows, maybe I should give him a call."

"Wait, Howard was the name of Shirley's grandfather?" asked Leonard.

"Yes, it is."

"That can explain some things," Leonard said before hearing a knock on the door, "All right Mrs. Cooper I'll have him call you, bye!" After hurrying her off the phone he headed towards the door saying, "I can't believe that. Shirley seems like such a nice person."

"Well she can be a nice person now, maybe she was a wild child in her past." Penny responded knowing full well a 'wild child' can change.

"I think she's still a wild child," Leonard said before opening up the door to Shirley, "hey Shirley…" he greeted awkwardly.


End file.
